单选题 Once a social taboo, love across the color line is becoming increasingly common. The number of interracial marriages in the U.S. has leaped almost 1,000% since 1967, when a landmark Supreme Court decision, Loving v. Virginia, voided state antimiscegenation laws that forbid unions between the races. Today there are more than 2 million interracial marriages, accounting for about 5% of all U.S. marriages, and almost half a million of them are between blacks and whites. Yet even after the Loving decision, which required the state of Virginia to recognize the marriage between a white man and a black woman, Richard and Mildred Loving, the resistance to mixed nuptials in the South seemed to stay as firm as the reverence some there still have for the Confederate flag. It was only three years ago that Alabama became the last state to drop its unenforceable ban on mixed marriage, and it did so with just a 60%-to-40% vote by residents. Of course, interracial intimacy has been a fact of life in the region since African slaves first arrived in the U.S. — and white slave owners like Thomas Jefferson began sneaking into the slave quarters at night. But what used to be branded clandestine lust has finally evolved into sanctioned love: black-white interracial marriages in Alabama have more than tripled, from 297 in 1990 to 1,000 in 2000, or about 2.5% of the married couples in the state. An additional 1% of Alabama marriages are unions also involving Asians, Latinos and Native Americans.

单选题 Which of the following is considered a landmark ruling in interracial marriages?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】特定信息的找寻和判断。根据题干中关键词“a landmark ruling”在原文中找寻与其相关的特定信息部分为原文第一段第二句中“…a landmark Supreme Court decision，Loving V．Virginia”。由此可见，选项b的说法是正确的。注意：掌握单词的归类。原文中Supreme Court和题干中ruling同属于法律范畴，因此正确答案就在有Supreme Court出现的上下文中。

单选题 How many marriages in the U.S. are between blacks and whites?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】数字信息的找寻和判断。原文关于跨种族通婚的数据颇多，根据题干内容可确定原文第一段最后一句中“…almost half a million of them are between blacks and whites”是正确：答案，符合这一说法的只有选项d。注意：迅速找寻有关数字信息并做出正确判断。

单选题 Why is Thomas Jefferson mentioned in this passage?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】隐含事实的判断。根据原文第三段第一句，可知该句隐含的事实就是Thomas Jefferson被当作一个例子来说明“interracial intimacy”。因此，选项a的说法是正确的。注意：正确判断主题句和支持性细节间的关系。Thomas Jefferson为interracial intimacy这一主题的支持性细节，

单选题 What can be inferred from the passage?

A、 The resistance to interracial marriages in the South still stays firm.
B、 The number of interracial marriages involving Asians, Latinos and Native Americans is greater than that of black-white marriages.
C、 There were no mixed marriages in Alabama until three years ago.
D、 The rise of an educated black middle class has increased opportunities for blacks and whites to develop romantic relationships.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】推理判断题。根据原文第二段第一句“the resistance to mixed nuptials in the South seemed to stay as firm as…”即“在南方人们对(黑人和白人间)通婚的行为依然坚决反对”，显然选项a的说法是正确的。因此，该项为正确答案。注意：掌握同义词替换。原文中mixed nuptials与选项中interracial marriages均指不同种族间的通婚。

单选题 How did interracial marriage get approved in Alabama?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】特定信息的找寻和判断。通过对Alabama婚姻情况这一特定信息进行找寻，发现原文第二段最后一句提到Alabama是最后一个放弃混合婚姻禁令的州时说明这是“just a 60%-to-40% vote by residents”，即“当地居民60%对40%投票的结果”，这与选项c内容吻合。因此，该选项的说法是正确的。注意：根据数字信息迅速做出推断是解答本题的关键。